The Cafe at Debenhams
by Imagination Is A Gift
Summary: Years after the war with Gaia, a pregnant Piper runs into Reyna and her son at Debenhams. They go to lunch, and have some slightly awkward fun catching up. Talking for the first time in years can get weird. Jeyna and Liper. Flashbacks. Pipeyna. Jason/Piper angst. One-Shot.


**A/N: So one day I was in a café in Debenhams and I had to chose between a muffin and chocolate cake and I thought 'What would my favourite Character do in this situation?' Then I decided that Reyna would probably pick something healthier but PIPER would eat a lot of chocolate, so that's how I came up with this idea.**

 **FLASHBACKS ARE IN ITALIC AND ARE NOT IN CHRONILOGICAL ORDER. Just saying. -Izzy**

* * *

 _Piper felt awful. No, 'awful' wasn't a big enough word. She felt… broken. She was running to the Zues Cabin of Camp Half-Blood, forcing back tears, begging herself not to cry. She couldn't cry. Not now. She couldn't feel bad; she couldn't make Jason feel guilty._

 _Before she could even walk up to the door, she spotted Jason sat outside, on the steps of the cabin with a hot cup of coffee in his hands. He was in his pyjama's, like she was. His eyes were red, like hers was. They had both been crying._

 _She gulped and walked up to him, sitting down next to him and being careful not to touch him. "You kissed Reyna," she sighed._

 _"_ _And you kissed Leo," he returned, not making eye contact with her. "Can we just… before we start this conversation, can we please just agree that we're both in the wrong here?"_

 _"_ _Neither of us have a right to be mad at each other," Piper choked. "Jason… I'm not big on my heritage, but if being my mother's daughter taught me anything, it's that… this should have ended a long time ago."_

 _Jason looked at her, shocked, before nodding. "You're right. Piper McLean. I still love you, okay? But I'm not still… in love with you. I'm sorry, I had to say it eventually."_

 _"_ _I don't think we've been in love for a long time," she said, remembering that night on the rooftop. The fake memory and the real one, the lack of music and the stars shining above them. "We just couldn't see it."_

 _"_ _I keep lying to myself," he said, still not meeting her eyes. "To everyone around me, Pipes. I keep forcing myself to convince people, the world, myself, that everything's the same as it was. But it isn't. I'm just holding on to the past. I can't do that anymore, Piper."_

 _"_ _We both agree," she said, nodding. She choked back another sob. "Then why can't we say it?"_

 _"_ _Because we don't want it to be true," he said. "We can't keep lying to ourselves. I can't do this anymore, Piper."_

 _Her mind was instantly flooded with memories, definitions of the word 'this'. When she fell off the Grand Canyon and he flew in a caught her. When They sat on the grass and celebrated his birthday with cake. When they danced, every time they kissed, every laugh they shared, every time she ran into his arms. They had an epic love story._

 _But every story had an ending. And this one just wasn't a happy one._

-0-0-0-0-0-

Piper was sick and tired of being Pregnant. Not for obvious reasons. Sure, the cramps and morning sickness was a pain, and no, having a baby kick you repeatedly wasn't the miraculous thing everybody made it out to be. That kind of hurt. She didn't care about the bump making her look bad, but it was very inconvenient when she was trying to do simple things like tie her shoes or pick something up. And it hurt her back.

But these weren't the most annoying things about being pregnant. The most annoying thing, in her opinion, was everyone coming up to her and touching her bump. She was in Debenhams trying to buy some better running shoes at the Sports Direct section, so why was she randomly getting touched? Sometimes without warning! Some people would come up to her from behind and slip their hand on her bump!

She had already broken three fingers in these situations and she didn't need to break anymore. But it was hard to keep her cool when she was stuck in an over-heated shop that played Taylor Swift's Shake It Off every other song instead of finding new ones, with employees that didn't know the difference between running and hiking.

And she couldn't walk five steps without someone running up to her and asking when she was due, or if she needed anything, or randomly touching her stomach. When she was paying, she was on the verge of breaking when one woman came over and rubbed her stomach without asking, bending down to talk to it. Piper snapped.

"Can you just not?" she said, her voice raising instantly as she pushed the woman's hand away. "Can you just _not_ be here?" She felt bad about being rude, and maybe it was the pregnancy hormones making her so angry. But she was angry!

"Piper?" someone said from nearby. Piper turned at the familiar sound, trying to put a face to the voice. She barely recognised the speaker. The toga was gone, the golden armour and the weapons. She wasn't wearing purple, for another thing.

It was the braid that did it. The ebony braid was how Piper made the connection. After all these years, that hadn't changed.

"Reyna!" Piper exclaimed, beginning to smile. Reyna was wearing a short black trench coat with tights underneath and high heeled shoes. Piper would never have guessed Reyna would be into high heels and tights, but she gave off a sought of professional look in them.

Reyna was also smiling; which Piper had seen maybe twice before. They moved towards each other and Reyna managed to hug her without getting in the way of the bump. "Wow," Reyna said, looking down at where the baby was. "You must get tired of hearing this but… You're pregnant! Congratulations."

"Thanks," Piper said, grinning. She wondered if, other than her bump, she looked too different. Her hair was neater than it had been when she was a teenager, but it was still messy. Her face had matured. She wore dark leggings, which were one of the only comfortable things left during her pregnancy, and a pair of brown leather boots. She wore a grey tunic that resembled a chunky knit jumper. "Sorry you had to see…" she gestured to the annoying lady who touched her, who was now looking at something on the shelves, "that."

Reyna shrugged it off. "It's better to yell at them, trust me," Reyna said. "You yell at one, people see it, surprisingly they understand, and you get a lot less people coming up to you and touching you."

"You sound like you would know," Piper said, paying for her stuff as she spoke to Reyna.

Reyna nodded before pointing to where she had just been stood before walking a couple steps to Piper. There was a pushchair, a few chubby fists reaching up from under the hood. Piper gasped a little when she realised it was Reyna's before going over to have a closer look.

"What's his name?" Piper asked, somehow being able to tell the baby was a boy.

"Nate," Reyna answered. The cashier put Piper's bag on the table and Reyna took it for her. "It's short for Nathaniel."

Piper was about to say something when she was interrupted by a large growl in her stomach. She sighed and Reyna laughed. "This baby's making me hungry 24/7," Piper complained. "Can we get something to eat?"

The top floor of Debenhams was shared by Sports Direct and a small, but quality café. Reyna nodded and handed Piper her shopping bag, taking the pushchair back and steering it over to the café. It was one of those places where you filled up a tray of food, like a buffet, before taking it over to the main counter to pay.

Reyna took an apple crumble slice and ordered a latte, but Piper, who was eating for two, had taken a chocolate muffin, a slice of cake, two cookies, a piece of fruit toast, a cheese panini and a hot chocolate with whipped cream, cocoa powder and a flake.

Reyna just rolled her eyes as she paid. The staff were pretty informal and very friendly. The café, being in the middle of a shop, wasn't very quiet; it had hardwood floors and tables of all different shapes and sizes. All chairs were either purple or green and the walls were decorated with black and white photography, with one thing in each picture coloured in either purple or green.

There were a lot of tables, but it was still hard for the two women to find one that was free. They sat across from each other and made themselves comfortable. "So how come I've never seen you around here before?" Piper asked.

-0-0-0-0-0-

 _They all attended the God's annual Winter Solstice party, one that only Annabeth and Percy had attended before, out of their little group. Piper and Jason had officially split up, and both of them were too unhappy to really move on from it._

 _Neither had plucked up the courage to do what they broke up to do. Start a relationship with Leo and Reyna. Leo and Reyna were happy to wait. They knew Piper and Jason just needed some time to mourn the old, broken relationship and move on._

 _The party was pretty cool. There were laser lights covering the floor, and Reyna wondered why it was so modernized. There were wind spirits and nymphs running around with platters of food and even a punch bowl filled with red wine, curtesy of Dionysus._

 _"_ _How does anyone, ever seem to move on?" Jason asked. He stood with Reyna near the punch bowl, as a fast, upbeat song played around the dance floor._

 _"_ _Well," Reyna said, looking at her best friend being all gloomy and upset and watching it bring her own mood down, "first of all, you need to actually have some fun. You know, instead of being so utterly miserable all the time. Try to loosen up."_

 _"_ _Great advice," Jason grumbled. He turned and smiled sadly at Reyna. "Thank you for putting up with me. Hey look, it's our song."_

 _Reyna actually sniggered. Guns'N'Roses Sweet Child O'Mine was hardly their song. It had been playing on the radio of a bus one time, when they were travelling home from their first quest. They were 13 and had fallen asleep on each other. Now, whenever that song came on, they grinned._

 _"_ _Forget the song," she said. "You are at a party full of pretty nymphs. You're single and you're… well, you! Now's the time to be dancing and having fun."_

 _He gave her a slightly tired, but grateful look. She had always been there to cheer him up before, as his old friend. Whenever he was sad, it was always Reyna he turned to, Reyna was his sunshine when skies were grey._

 _"_ _So you think I should just, throw some girl over my shoulder, take her out onto the dance floor?" he asked. "Is that your definition of fun?"_

 _"_ _Take your own advice," she said. "Do that. You deserve to have a great night."_

 _He nodded, taking it into consideration. He pretended to look around the setting for a dance partner, before picking Reyna up and throwing her over his shoulder, walking out onto the dance floor._

 _She laughed and hit his back. "I didn't mean me!"_

 _"_ _But it's our song!" he laughed right back, putting her down on the floor. She punched his shoulder but didn't refuse him the dance._

-0-0-0-0-0-

"Jason and I just moved here," Reyna answered. She had shrugged off her coat and she was wearing a black dress, with a tight torso and a thick brown belt around her waist. It had a loose skirt and a boat collar. It had tight sleeves that came to her elbows and he looked like she was taking a break from her job at a very fashionable business. Somehow, she managed to wear all black, but did not look the least bit goth. "Job opportunity," she explained. "Something I do not want to miss."

"Do tell," Piper said, leaning forward as she smiled. "What do you actually do?"

"Journalism," Reyna said, shaking a small bag of brown sugar before pouring it into her latte. "I originally attempted Written Journalism, but being a demigod," she lowered her voice when she said the word, before speaking normally again, "and with my dyslexia, I found it hard to write. Usually it doesn't hold me back – I don't let it. But I had this one job at a small newspaper company when I was 18, and it was almost impossible to meet deadlines.

"So over the past 8 years I've moved on to Television," she said. "I spent the last few years running around and getting coffee, before one day, I helped out in the morning show, when one of the reporters were out. They liked my work and started having me on the show more often. Soon they offered me a more permanent job here for a daily morning show."

"Oh my Gods," Piper nodded, impressed. She could definitely see Reyna being a journalist. She had an opinion on everything and wouldn't stop until she projected her voice into the world and made herself known, and through the media was the way to do that. "That's amazing, Reyna! Congratulations!"

"Thanks," she smiled. "It is pretty amazing. The pay is good and it's got good benefits. Plus, the hours are early in the morning, it being a breakfast show, so I get to spend the day with Nate while Jason's at work. The show itself doesn't have many viewers, but it's a great start you know?"

"Look at you, Miss Big-Shot!" Piper grinned. Reyna held up her left hand and Piper spotted the thin gold band around her ring finger. "Mrs Big-Shot," she corrected. "Wow! How long?"

"Two Years," Reyna said. "Just before I fell pregnant with this little one," she added, looking over and touching the cheek of a sleeping Nathaniel. "And just after Jason graduated Medical School."

Piper's head snapped up from looking at the baby. "Jason's a doctor? No way!"

Reyna nodded. "One year into his residency," she smiled, proudly.

Piper smirked. She could see Jason wearing scrubs and a lab coat. With demigods, it was difficult seeing them as anything other than monster-slaying heroes. With the exception of Annabeth, who talked about Architecture so much it hurt. Hardly any demigods had the time or peace to sit around and think about the future. Chances were: they didn't have one, so they often lived in the now.

So when you heard about a demigod with a career going, you had to do a lot of imagining to believe it. If Jason was a normal guy, not a demigod, he could definitely be a doctor. Spend a lot of time at medical school studying to help people. That is the stereotypical reason why people become doctors. Other than girls, money, power and girls.

"Wow," she said, impressed. "Tell him I said congratulations. If I ever break my arm, I'll give him a call."

Piper was one of few who really knew Jason. They had once been in love after all. Happy, young, free. Then, eventually, they began falling out of love. Neither of them wanted to admit it. They were still in love with the idea of what they had once had. When they stopped having romantic feelings for each other completely, they were still together, trying to force themselves to be in love again.

The real problem started when they began to have feelings for other people.

-0-0-0-0-0-

 _Soon after the Winter Solstice party on Olympus, they went back to Camp Half-Blood. Piper didn't go back to the Aphrodite cabin. She didn't want to be surrounded by all of the love and happiness and relationships. It was sickening._

 _Instead, she found herself in Cabin Nine, sitting side-by-side with Leo as his siblings slept. She could've gone to see Annabeth or Hazel or something, but she wanted to sit with Leo, even if it was surrounded by people in the middle of the night._

 _"_ _Here," he said, handing her a glass. She guessed it had some sought of alcohol in it. The Hermes kids had found a way to start sneaking it in. Chiron had put a stop to it, but of course Leo had managed to get some._

 _She took the glass and sipped. "Thanks."_

 _"_ _I was being polite," he said, watching her with a confused expression on his face. "You hate alcohol."_

 _She just shrugged. "I recently broke up with my boyfriend," she said. "And tonight I watched him dance with one of my best friends, and whilst I approve of them together, I think a small drink is in order."_

 _Leo just smirked at her. "Alright then, Beauty Queen."_

 _She paused, swirling her glass. "My Dad doesn't even know what I am," she mused. "My mother doesn't care. Annabeth's on vacation with Percy and Reyna's busy with Jason. I don't have anyone to talk to about this."_

 _He sighed as she finished her drink. "You have me," he promised her. Yes, it was a promise. It had always been a promise. He had always stayed by her side and he always will. She could lose everything on Earth and still have Leo._

 _"_ _At the party tonight," she muttered, they had to be quiet as his siblings were sleeping, "I wanted to dance with you. When that song came on, the really pretty one. I wanted to dance with you, but I couldn't find you."_

 _He just nodded before typing something into a little monitor in the tech-filled room. Nothing happened at first, but he stood up and offered her his hand. She looked at it and smiled before taking it and getting to her feet. He led her outside the cabin, away from the other Hephaestus kids. There was a little speaker outside that they often used to blare sounds out of to make other campers jump. But now, it was playing the pretty song Piper had heard. "I'm assuming you meant this one?" Leo asked._

 _He pulled her into a dance, her fingers entwined with his. His forehead rested on hers and maybe it was his warm brown eyes looking into hers, maybe it was his rough, mechanic's hands touching her soft ones, maybe it was the way he smelled… but she felt more at home than she ever had before._

-0-0-0-0-0-

"Anyway," Reyna said snapping Piper out of the memory. "Do not let me ramble on. How are you, Pipes? It's not wrong of me to assume that the bun in the oven is Leo's?"

Piper smirked. "That's right," she said. She held up her left hand and Reyna held it, bringing it forward to admire the silver engagement ring. "Took him long enough. We wanted to get our careers on track before even considering marriage."

Reyna looked at her very seriously as she pointed at the ring. "This better not be just because of the baby," she said. Piper grinned. Reyna could get very protective of her friends, and if she thought for a second, that Piper was marrying for reasons other than love, Piper could definitely imagine her drop-kicking Leo.

"No," Piper laughed. "The baby was actually conceived on the night of my engagement. We're waiting until after the baby is born to actually get married. With all the planning and the money, it was either during my Ninth month, when I'm heavily pregnant and having contraptions as they wheel me down the alter, or we could wait a little longer until after."

"Not many options," Reyna observed. "So go on. What do you do?"

"Well," Piper said, in a tone that suggested she was about to surprise Reyna. "I actually got into working with children. Young children. Maybe create some feminists before the media corrupts them." Reyna sniggered at this. "I work in an Elementary School," Piper grinned. "I have a class of thirty kids, all about 6 years old, and I don't think they hate me."

"Well that's always a great achievement," Reyna grinned. She found it quite easy to imagine Piper as a Teacher. She had always been very kind and caring, and Reyna had always said she was maternal. It was easy to imagine Piper finger painting with some little kids. "So do you enjoy it?"

"Oh yeah," Piper nodded, enthusiastically. "They're all lovely kids and it's been so amazing to see them work their way up the school, watch them grow up, you know? I can't wait to have my own."

"Little miracles," Reyna said, reaching over to Nate could hold her finger in his chubby fist. "What about Leo? What's he been up to these days?"

Piper shrugged. "He's opened a mechanic not too far from here. Putting his powers to good use. The thing is, as a child of Hephaestus, or Vulcan, he became the fastest, best mechanic in the area, which made his business pretty big. He's got a proper workhouse now, and a few employees to work with."

"Oh that's good," Reyna said, nodding. "As long as he's having fun and likes what he does."

"He really enjoys it," Piper nodded, proud of her fiancé. "He's really good at it, as well. When he first got his driver's license he invested in a very old, but classic car. Some red thing from the sixties. Anyway, about two years ago he got into a crash. An army of wind spirits went past and the car flipped over."

"Oh my Gods!" Reyna said, shocked. "Is he okay?"

"He broke his leg and cracked his skull," Piper told her, shrugging. "And he need seven stiches near his ribs, but he's fine now. He was much more interested in fixing the car, which was completely destroyed. I kept trying to convince him to get a new one, but he managed to pop out the dented roof and fix most of the engine. What he couldn't fix, he replaced, until it was basically a new car. It took half a year to find everything that matched, but when he was finished it was as good as new. But it went from completely destroyed to practically perfect. He uses the story to advertise his business."

"I can see why," Reyna nodded. Her and Leo hadn't gotten along very well at first and Reyna smirked, remembering the night they first became friends.

-0-0-0-0-0-

 _The music was surprisingly pretty good, which was strange since Reyna rarely approved of most music. But this song was pretty catchy. Something about surviving monsters. The party wasn't very special. Apollo was the God of Parties, so it only made sense that Will Solace threw one for Nico's birthday. Nico wasn't enjoying himself, and neither was Reyna for that matter._

 _She stood at the edge of the dancefloor, in a short black dress, her hair out of the braid for once. She was watching Jason and Piper dance together, like they had several times before. But this time was different. Maybe because last week Jason confessed he had feelings for Reyna. Maybe it was because Piper confessed her feelings for Leo, and as his best friend, Reyna didn't think Jason should still be with her. She liked Piper, of course, but this relationship was toxic._

 _"_ _This is bullshit," said a voice at her ear. She turned to see Leo next to her, also looking at the couple on the dancefloor. He was wearing a fairly smart shirt for the occasion, tucked into his jeans, and he looked a lot less happy than he usually was. "I mean, I get that they're not ready to let go, but do they realize that they're hurting us?"_

 _"_ _It takes a lot more than Jason to hurt me," Reyna said. "But if you're having a hard time, do you want me to hold your hand for support?"_

 _"_ _No," he growled. He took a flask from his pocket and handed it to Reyna. "Don't worry, it's not poison. But I have a feeling you and I both need this."_

 _She rolled her eyes before taking the flask from him and drinking. "This doesn't make us friends," she said as she handed it back to him._

 _"_ _Of course not," he replied, taking his flask back. They exchanged a brief look before eye-stalking Jason and Piper once more. "I bet, if we put our head together, we could manipulate a way for them to break apart. Hurry up the inevitable."_

 _Reyna sighed, looking at him. "And risk both of them hating us? No, I'd rather let them fall apart on their own. Or fix their problems. But they better hurry up and do it already so I can move on with my life, instead of sitting on the sidelines as Jason figures out what he feels."_

 _Leo nodded. "You're probably right. Let's just wait for them to figure this out themselves."_

 _"_ _That's a lot more civilized," Reyna approved, crossing her arms. "Unlike your hair, Valdez" she added, cocking her head to one side. "You look like a Muppet."_

 _They ended up getting very mildly drunk that night. They realized they were in the same situation. The only person either of them knew that could relate to their situation – sitting on the sidelines and waiting for someone to decide whether or not they liked you – was each other. They stopped hating each other after that._

-0-0-0-0-0-

Piper was officially in love with Nathaniel. His eyes, like his father, resembled light skies on a summers day, his blonde hair was soft and his cheeks were chubby. Babies were adorable. At one point during lunch, he began to cry, and Reyna just cooed something in Spanish. More like a song that a sentence, and Nate calmed down immediately.

"Are you raising him with both English and Spanish, or…?" Piper asked, sipping her hot chocolate and getting cream all over her upper lip. Like an adult.

Reyna nodded. "Jason thought it would be best, at first, to raise him with English, since he'll be living in America for his childhood. But when I said I wanted him to know at least a little Spanish, Jason didn't argue."

"I'm probably going to have the same conversation with Leo soon," Piper said. "I don't care about French, which is the other language I speak. Leo's already started tapping my stomach with Morse Code. That was like, his and his mother's tradition, and I guess he wants it to continue with his child as well."

Reyna pulled up Nate's blanket in the pushchair, covering his tiny shoulders as he began drifting to sleep. She turned back to Piper and grinned. "So many languages. As a Roman, Nate might pick up some Latin naturally, but if not, neither of us really care." She finished her food and leaned back, waiting for Piper to finish hers. "What are you thinking in terms of names?"

"No idea," Piper said. "I kind of want something unique and different. Beautiful."

Reyna nodded. "Sure. But then you're signing them up to a life of miss-pronunciations, miss-spellings, not being able to find their name on any merchandise and having them silently curse you for making them the kid at school with the weird name."

"Shit," Piper said. "Whatever the supply-teacher says will be his nickname forever. I went to this one school where we had a girl called Kianna. The teacher caller her 'Keener', so she was Keener from sixth to eighth grade."

"Exactly," Reyna nodded. "I mean, don't listen to me, all your baby whatever you want."

Piper shrugged her off. "No, I want to consider every perspective. I mean, whatever I name this kid will be the name that identifies him for the rest of his life."

Reyna nodded. "It's a lot of pressure," she said. "Do you know if it's a boy or girl?"

Piper shook her head, finishing of a few more of her snacks. "We decided to wait and see. The nursery's painted yellow, which was considered a gender-neutral colour. It's this beautiful little attic room in our house with a white carpet and white lace curtains and it's filled with teddies… Leo built the crib."

Reyna tutted. "I wish Jason was that creative," she joked. "We got a shop-bought one."

"Shame on you," Piper said, before laughing.

The noise decreased as Piper finished her food. The two women paused, looking at each other before Reyna sighed. "Where are you going from here?" she asked.

"Superdrug," Piper answered. "Pregnancy meds and stuff, you know? Then Leo's picking me up to take me back home. What about you?"

"I need to get a new blouse for work," Reyna said. "Then I need to take Nate to look at new car chairs, since his broke. Then get the bus home."

"Well then," Piper shrugged. "I feel like this is where we say goodbye." Reyna nodded and they got to their feet. They hugged again as a worker came over to collect their used plates and cups.

"If we're going to be living in the same state, we should meet up sometimes," Reyna suggested. "I think Jason's planning a barbeque. Maybe a double date."

"Playdates," Piper added, enthusiastically.

"Definitely," Reyna agreed, grinning. "Just don't be a stranger, okay?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Piper nodded. They took the lift down to the bottom floor and walked out of the exit together.

"I'll see you around, Piper," Reyna said, smiling a little more solemnly. Piper nodded before they turned and walked their own separate ways.

There had once been so much drama between them, history between Piper and Reyna's husband, arguments had turned into fights whenever they got together with Leo and Jason. Piper couldn't help but feel like, even though it was all in the past, those playdates would probably never happen.

* * *

 **A/N: Hours to write. Literally. Seconds to review. Let me know what you think. This is my first time writing Liper, so...**


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